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Memories of World War II in Norwegian Fiction and Life...
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Memories of World War II in Norwegian Fiction and Life Writing

A special issue of Humanities (ISSN 2076-0787).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 November 2025) | Viewed by 6658

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Unni Langås

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Nordic and Media Studies, University of Agder, 4604 Kristiansand, Norway
Interests: 19th, 20th and 21st century Scandinavian literature; Norwegian literature

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue addresses representations of WW II memories in contemporary Norwegian literature, doing so with a comparative glance at tendencies occurring in the entire post-war era. Today, the primary witnesses are mostly gone, and new generations are facing a past they feel an urgent need to thematize. In fiction and life writing, new voices approach this critical phase in Norwegian history and its inherited master narrative from fresh angles and current interests. Informed by family experiences, national and international memory culture, as well as recent historiographic research, literary contributions offer new interpretations of war-time concerns and their post-war afterlife.

Fiction which addresses historical experience is conventionally complete with references to real events and persons, thus implying a certain realism or trustworthiness. An important question is how this tension between the historical credibility and its aesthetical framing is shaped, and how the critics and readers respond to it. Another question concerns the changing norms that a comparative study of attitudes and opinions between past and present reveals. During times of occupation, unconventional relationships occur, and belongings (national, ethnic, gender) become powerful, even existentially decisive. The Special Issue will address these questions and offer comprehensive analyses of selected Norwegian WWII literature.

Abstract deadline: 1 March 2025

Prof. Dr. Unni Langås
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Humanities is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Norwegian literature
  • memory studies
  • World War II

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Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 298 KB  
Article
Memories, Places, Objects: Memory Transmission in Monica Csango’s Fortielser (2017)
by Madelen Brovold
Humanities 2026, 15(1), 6; https://doi.org/10.3390/h15010006 - 29 Dec 2025
Viewed by 263
Abstract
Materiality has emerged as a significant theme in Holocaust literature as well as in Holocaust studies scholarship, highlighting the pivotal role of physical objects. This materiality has been conceptualized in various ways in recent scholarship, including «testimonial objects», «objects of return», and «artifacts [...] Read more.
Materiality has emerged as a significant theme in Holocaust literature as well as in Holocaust studies scholarship, highlighting the pivotal role of physical objects. This materiality has been conceptualized in various ways in recent scholarship, including «testimonial objects», «objects of return», and «artifacts of memory». Building on this conceptual framework, the article analyzes the ways in which transgenerational memory transmission is thematized in Monica Csango’s memoir Fortielser. Min jødiske familiehistorie («Concealments. My Jewish Family History», 2017), investigating what memorial functions material places and objects—in particular inherited objects—serve in the transmission and representation of memory within the narrative. The central question the article addresses is: Which places and objects are central to the narrative’s representation of memory, and in what ways do they mediate memory and trauma? The article suggests that postmemory transforms physical objects and places spaces into sites of remembering and mourning, enabling transgenerational continuity and memory transmission in Fortielser. These findings underscore the central role of material and spatial mediums in sustaining intergenerational remembrance, suggesting that inherited artifacts and projected spaces constitute vital modes of memory transmission, or «acts of transfer», within parts of Jewish Norwegian second- and third-generation literature. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Memories of World War II in Norwegian Fiction and Life Writing)
18 pages, 324 KB  
Article
Writing the Burden of Family History: Descendant Narratives of World War II Perpetrators in Norway, 1980s–2020s
by Marianne Sætre Amundsen
Humanities 2025, 14(12), 239; https://doi.org/10.3390/h14120239 - 12 Dec 2025
Viewed by 940
Abstract
This article presents a comprehensive historical overview and analysis of Norwegian descendant literature written by children and grandchildren of World War II perpetrators—specifically Nazis, Waffen-SS front fighters and members of the fascist party Nasjonal Samling (NS)—from the 1980s to the 2020s. Based on [...] Read more.
This article presents a comprehensive historical overview and analysis of Norwegian descendant literature written by children and grandchildren of World War II perpetrators—specifically Nazis, Waffen-SS front fighters and members of the fascist party Nasjonal Samling (NS)—from the 1980s to the 2020s. Based on an analysis of twenty works, it shows how these narratives articulate the emotional and social burden of family history and engage with an evolving national memory culture. The analysis identifies generational and temporal patterns, including a significant divergence within the second generation. Early publications (1980s) and later “NS children’s” accounts (2010s) foreground stigmatisation, bullying, exclusion and long-term repercussions, whereas self-reflective second- and third-generation works (2000s–2020s) increasingly portray internalised responses, such as inherited shame, guilt and emotional ambivalence. By tracing these developments, the analysis shows that descendant narratives both reflect and reshape existing frameworks of remembrance. Across periods and generations, the burden is marked by strong emotional responses and interwoven with national memory culture. These findings offer new insights into the emotional dimensions of Norway’s evolving memory of World War II, highlighting the interplay between personal, familial and collective memories. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Memories of World War II in Norwegian Fiction and Life Writing)
17 pages, 246 KB  
Article
Silence, Distortion, or Discrimination? Roma Memories and Norwegian Memory Politics of WWII
by Anette Homlong Storeide
Humanities 2025, 14(12), 236; https://doi.org/10.3390/h14120236 - 4 Dec 2025
Viewed by 602
Abstract
The Nazi genocide had devastating consequences for Norwegian Jews and Romas. However, their experiences and memories have been treated very differently in Norway with respect to official recognition and public attention. This article investigates the mnemonic marginalization of the Roma and the persistent [...] Read more.
The Nazi genocide had devastating consequences for Norwegian Jews and Romas. However, their experiences and memories have been treated very differently in Norway with respect to official recognition and public attention. This article investigates the mnemonic marginalization of the Roma and the persistent gap between the historical recognition of Roma persecution and its representational absence in national narratives of war and victimhood. It suggests that continued exclusion of the small Roma minority from national identity narratives in Norway results not only from temporal, topographical and narrative characteristics of their memories, but also from discursive connections of negative stereotypes that discredits them as blameworthy victims and results in testimonial injustice. Moreover, it explores the challenges of representing Roma memories without reproducing stigmatizing cultural tropes. The article suggests empathic mnemonic counter-narratives as a strategy for countering dominant framings of the Roma as “the others” and for promoting a more inclusive and self-reflexive politics of remembrance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Memories of World War II in Norwegian Fiction and Life Writing)
14 pages, 240 KB  
Article
The War at Sea, Lived Memories and the Politics of Emotion in Vigdis Stokkelien’s Trilogy on Gro
by Christine Hamm
Humanities 2025, 14(12), 226; https://doi.org/10.3390/h14120226 - 21 Nov 2025
Viewed by 688
Abstract
In recent years, Norwegian cultural production has increasingly foregrounded the experiences of sailors serving aboard merchant vessels allied with the British during the Second World War. These men endured not only physical injuries from submarine and aerial attacks, but also profound psychic trauma, [...] Read more.
In recent years, Norwegian cultural production has increasingly foregrounded the experiences of sailors serving aboard merchant vessels allied with the British during the Second World War. These men endured not only physical injuries from submarine and aerial attacks, but also profound psychic trauma, often manifesting in post-war alcoholism and depression. However, the war at sea also left indelible marks on women’s bodies. This article examines Vigdis Stokkelien’s trilogy on Gro—Lille-Gibraltar (Little Gibraltar, 1972), Båten under solseilet (The boat under the sun sail, 1982), and Stjerneleden (The star joint, 1984)—to explore how emotions as fear, shame and pain circulate between different individuals and groups during the war and in war memories. Drawing on affect theory, this reading of Stokkelien’s novels demonstrates how what happened at sea marked Norwegian bodies and national identity for a long time after the war. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Memories of World War II in Norwegian Fiction and Life Writing)
15 pages, 223 KB  
Article
Realism, Affect, and the Battle of the Senses: Historicity and Cultural Memory in Dag Solstad’s War Trilogy
by Sigurd Tenningen
Humanities 2025, 14(11), 222; https://doi.org/10.3390/h14110222 - 17 Nov 2025
Viewed by 461
Abstract
This article examines Dag Solstad’s War Trilogy (1977–81) as a key work of realism and cultural memory in postwar Norwegian literature. Long dismissed as doctrinaire Marxist fiction, the trilogy is, in fact, one of the most ambitious literary engagements with World War II [...] Read more.
This article examines Dag Solstad’s War Trilogy (1977–81) as a key work of realism and cultural memory in postwar Norwegian literature. Long dismissed as doctrinaire Marxist fiction, the trilogy is, in fact, one of the most ambitious literary engagements with World War II in Scandinavia. Drawing on Georg Lukács’s theory of the historical novel and Fredric Jameson’s account of realism’s “antinomies,” this article argues that Solstad’s realism is defined by contradiction: it is both a didactic mapping of social conflict and an aesthetic registration of lived sensation. The trilogy insists on the persistence of class antagonisms across civilian and military spheres; however, it also dwells on affective residues—hygiene, beauty, emotions, atmosphere—that resist narrative closure. This duality is framed through the concept of dual historicity: Solstad’s novels remember the 1930s and 1940s from the vantage point of the 1970s, while today they reach us as artifacts of that political and aesthetic moment. In light of this, the War Trilogy operates not only as historical fiction but as a medium of cultural memory, dramatizing the contradictions of remembrance itself. Realism here becomes neither transparency nor nostalgia, but a “battle of the senses” in which ideology and perception vie over the conditions of historical experience. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Memories of World War II in Norwegian Fiction and Life Writing)
18 pages, 225 KB  
Article
National Identity and Nomadic Subjectivity in Norwegian War Poetry
by Hans Kristian Strandstuen Rustad
Humanities 2025, 14(11), 208; https://doi.org/10.3390/h14110208 - 22 Oct 2025
Viewed by 682
Abstract
This article aims to explore how subjectivity is portrayed and reflected in Norwegian poetry on World War II and post-2000 wars. The material will include only a small number of anthologized poems from World War II by the poets Arnulf Øverland, Inger Hagerup, [...] Read more.
This article aims to explore how subjectivity is portrayed and reflected in Norwegian poetry on World War II and post-2000 wars. The material will include only a small number of anthologized poems from World War II by the poets Arnulf Øverland, Inger Hagerup, and Nordahl Grieg, and contemporary war poetry by Priya Bains and Pedro Carmona-Alvarez. It suggests that Norwegian World War II poems often exhibit a fixed rhythm, include rhymes, and emphasize national identity, utilizing binary oppositions such as “we”–“the others,” “friend”–“enemy”. In contrast, contemporary Norwegian war poetry seems to feature structures that reflect global, nomadic subjectivities. These contemporary works may engage more with fluid identities and intricate networks of connection, moving beyond the rigid dichotomies seen in earlier war poetry in Norway. These insights suggest a shift in how poets express and conceptualize war, influenced by changing global dynamics and understandings of identity and subjectivity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Memories of World War II in Norwegian Fiction and Life Writing)
15 pages, 238 KB  
Article
Postmemory Interpretations of Second World War Love Affairs in Twenty-First-Century Norwegian Literature
by Unni Langås
Humanities 2025, 14(7), 135; https://doi.org/10.3390/h14070135 - 24 Jun 2025
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1697
Abstract
Love and intimate relations between German men and Norwegian women were a widespread phenomenon during WWII. Like in many other European countries, these women were stigmatized and humiliated both by the authorities and by the civilian population. In this article, I discuss four [...] Read more.
Love and intimate relations between German men and Norwegian women were a widespread phenomenon during WWII. Like in many other European countries, these women were stigmatized and humiliated both by the authorities and by the civilian population. In this article, I discuss four postmemory literary works that address this issue: Edvard Hoem’s novel Mors og fars historie (The Story of My Mother and Father, 2005), Lene Ask’s graphic novel Hitler, Jesus og farfar (Hitler, Jesus, and Grandfather, 2006), Randi Crott and Lillian Crott Berthung’s autobiography Ikke si det til noen! (Don’t tell anyone!, 2013), and Atle Næss’s novel Blindgjengere (Duds, 2019). I explore how the narratives create a living connection between then and now and how they deal with unresolved questions and knowledge gaps. Furthermore, I discuss common themes such as the fate and identity of war children, national responsibilities versus individual choice, and norms connected to gender and sexuality. I argue that these postmemory interpretations of wartime love affairs not only aim to retell the past but to investigate the normative frameworks within which these relationships took place. My contention is that the postmemory gaze pays primary attention to the power of cultural constructions—of nationality, identity, and gender—as well as their context-related historical changes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Memories of World War II in Norwegian Fiction and Life Writing)
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